Introducing the Concept of Consonance-Disconsonance of Best Practice: A Focus on the Development of ‘Student Profiling’

The present study, using a non-experimental approach, investigated a theoretical concept of best practice, which we recently introduced – namely: a ‘state of consonance’ and a ‘state of disconsonance’ of best practice. Consonance of best practice posits that different levels of best practice (e.g., low level of best practice versus optimal level of best practice), as well as other comparable psychological constructs (e.g., motivation towards learning) would cluster or ‘group’ together. Disconsonance of best practice, in contrast, would indicate non-overlapping of contrasting levels of best practice (i.e., low level of best practice versus optimal level of best practice). Taiwanese undergraduates (N = 831) from five private universities in Taipei City and New Taipei City, Taiwan took part in the study by responding to a suite of Likert-scale questionnaires (e.g., Best Practice Questionnaires, Motivation towards Learning Questionnaire), which took approximately 30–35 min to complete. Cluster analysis, commonly known as ClA, was used to analyze the data and seek theoretical understanding into the nature of the consonance of best practice. Results, overall, showed support for our proposition, resulting in four distinct profiles: ‘a Balanced Profile,’ ‘an Intrinsic Motivation Profile,’ ‘a Current Best Practice + Interest Profile,’ and ‘a Current Best Practice + Motivation Profile.’ This evidence, helping to advance further research development, has a number of practical implications for consideration. For example, how could we use the Balanced Profile to develop learning objectives and/or pedagogical practices that would encourage students to enjoy their learning experiences?